Memoirs of celebrated trapeze artist Jules Léotard, with lovely folding plate

The sought-after memoirs of famed French acrobat and trapeze artist Léotard, with a beautiful folding lithograph showing the author performing in mid-air.

Jules Léotard (1838-1870) was born in Toulouse as the son of a gymnastics instructor. He practised gymnastics from a young age and later joined the renowned Cirque Napoléon.

In 1859 he "invented the first flying trapeze known in the Western world. He also designed the gym tights, subsequently named for him, that have become the ubiquitous wear of the dance class. Léotard built an act around his trapeze and played it for a decade throughout Europe until his death" (Cullen).

According to the title-page this is a second edition ("deuxième édition"). However, the typesetting is identical to the first edition, published in the same year, with the only difference being the addition on the title-page of "deuxième édition".